Related words 官かん 吏り 官吏 is the more common compound meaning 'government official' and is still used in formal contexts, while 吏 alone is archaic.
公こう 務む 員いん 公務員 is the modern standard term for 'civil servant' or 'public official', replacing the archaic 吏 .
Word family· 34 government official; public servant; civil servant
lower official; petty official
constable; policeman
petty official; low-ranking bureaucrat
local government official
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government officials; public servants
public servant; government official
party of officials; bureaucratic faction
official duties; work of officials
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Written forms 吏り Usage <1%
Archaic kanji for a government official; rarely used independently in modern Japanese.
り Usage 100%
Etymology The kanji 吏 originally referred to a minor official in ancient China. In Japanese, it was used historically for government clerks and low-ranking officials, but the standalone word is now archaic.
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